Abstract:
Despite decades of work showing retroviruses to be involved in leukemogenesis in a variety of animal and subhuman primate species, it has only been recently that a pathogenic retrovirus has been unequivocally demonstrated in humans. This virus, called HTLV (human T-cell leukemia-lymphoma virus), is a unique exogenous retrovirus associated with a subtype of aggressive adult T-cell malignancy. Extensive seroepidemiology and repeated virus isolations indicate that HTLV is present worldwide, with certain geographical regions appearing to be endemic. The virus has been shown to be transmissible in vitro in cocultivation experiments and can immortalize newborn umbilical cord blood T lymphocytes, which show remarkable resemblance to neoplastic T cells in their growth properties, morphology, and expression of certain biochemical markers. HTLV is discussed under the following headings: initial isolation of HTLV, seroepidemiology of HTLV, subsequent isolates of HTLV - identification of two distinct subgroups, in vitro transformation of normal cord blood T cells by HTLV, molecular epidemiology of HTLV-related diseases, and possible mechanism for HTLV transformation. HTLV has been shown to be strongly associated with a malignant T-cell leukemia-lymphoma characterized by adult onset and usually with a relatively rapid, fatal course. Many questions remain to be answered, including those regarding the mechanism of transmission from individual to individual, the mechanism by which HTLV can transform T cells, whether this might involve integration of HTLV near a specific gene, and whether the initial HTLV isolates represent a restricted group of human viruses associated primarily with a single disease; they may possibly be members of a large family of human retroviruses associated with a variety of neoplasms. (42 Refs)
Keywords: Adult Antibodies, Viral/ANALYSIS Cell Line Cell Transformation, Neoplastic Cell Transformation, Viral DNA, Viral/ANALYSIS Fetal Blood Human HTLV-BLV Viruses/CLASSIFICATION/GENETICS/IMMUNOLOGY/*ISOLATION & PURIF T-Lymphocytes JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW
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